Cyber Crimes Unit to Catch Sexual Predators By Mining Bitcoin

A Benton County Arkansas Cyber crimes police unit said they intend to catch child pornographers and sex criminals by mining bitcoin. The county’s sheriff, Shawn Holloway, said that technology is evolving rapidly. In this sense, law enforcers must remain a step ahead to keep up with nascent trends in criminality. This is especially true when it comes to “cyber crime” and dark web activity.

A local news article said, “Today the sheriff announced that members of their cyber crimes unit will now be “mining” bitcoins as a way to catch sexual predators and other criminals who are using the secret web browsers.”

This method will likewise help educate police personnel on cryptocurrency technologies.

Law Enforcement to Buy Child Pornography with Bitcoin to Catch Offenders

The law enforcement unit plans to mine bitcoin and use it to buy child pornography. Then they will travel to arrest the offending suspect. A Detective for the department, David Undiano, clarified:

People are selling child pornography on the dark web and on the internet. They are accepting bitcoins, not payments. We can’t use the sheriff’s office credit card, and we cant exchange child pornography. We need some type currency to get this and then identify who we are getting it from. That way, we can go arrest that person.

The detective said the department is mining bitcoin in order to conceal themselves from the criminal element. This allows them to set up sting operations and catch pedophiles and other unsavory types without them knowing.

Parents Night Out Event

The Benton county department intends on having a parents night out event to educate parents on how the dark web works. The event runs on Thursday from 6 to 8 PM, according to the local news site. During the event, law enforcement will teach parents about the dark web and show them how to protect their children.

The department is conducting this educational meeting, because the FBI recently said there has been a rise in the number of people trading bitcoin for child pornography, buying drugs, and engaging in human trafficking.

“According to the Federal Bureau Investigation, there’s been a rise in the number of people using bitcoin to trade or distribute child pornography, to buy drugs illegally and for prostitution or human trafficking.”

However, the site did not mention all the fiat dollars involved in the aforesaid furtive transactions.

Do you think cops mining bitcoin to catch sexual predators is a good thing? What do you think about the police trading bitcoin for child pornography? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

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Sterlin Lujan

Sterlin Lujan is a journalist, editor, speaker, anarchist, and essayist.
He has been involved with cryptocurrency and Bitcoin since 2012. Sterlin is especially interested in the intersection of psychology and cryptography. He has written on behavioral economics in regards to innovative technology, and was one of the first to write about the emerging field of cryptopsychology on bitcoin.com.

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